PROGRAM TITLE:  Accelerating Digital Transformation for Small Business Owners

PROGRAM BRIEF AND TARGET AUDIENCE: This project is targeted at helping Small Businesses (business owners and their teams) within the Indo Canadian community, create a digital transformation roadmap to grow their business in the post COVID world. This program will help immigrant business owners to transition from a traditional brick-and-mortar business to a hybrid version and equip them for a digital future. Businesses will be across multiple sectors in early-stage or at a critical stage of their development.

This program is being developed specially for the Indo Canadian business community by ICCC in association with York University’s, Asian Research Centre. This will help Indo Canadian businesses create a Digital Transformation roadmap for their businesses in the post COVID business landscape. The program will focus on strategy, framework and tools required for Digitization of the Business and will assist the business owners to integrate the digital elements into their business

PROGRAM INTAKE: Only 100 participants spread across 4 cohorts of 25 participants each

PROGRAM TIMELINES: 7 weeks cohort: 6 weeks of training with 6 hours each week + last week ie week seven, devoted to feedback and value additions by a mentor

Cohort 1: July 4 OR July 5 – August 12, 2022

Cohort 2: September 12 – October 21, 2022

Cohort 3: November 7 – December 16, 2022

Cohort 4: January 9 – February 17, 2023

LOCATION: Zoom - Online

MODE OF DELIVERY: The program will be delivered synchronously and will also comprise of some asynchronous content. This will be a technology enhanced program which will be offered virtually, will be highly interactive and be supplemented with online materials which participants can read at their own pace. The sessions will be a combination of real time synchronous and on demand asynchronous components available through a Learning Management System (LMS). Close to 90% of the sessions will be offered synchronously to encourage engaging discussions and interactivity.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE: This holistic seven-week program will focus on digital business models and transformation technologies highlighting a wide array of current and future options that, would fit different businesses from different sectors

This program will comprise of four modules:

1. New Digital Business Models: The focus of this module will be on digital economy and new value creation. Key topics covered here would be digital Identity, digital communications, corporate Governance, 5G, Innovation, e-commerce and Internet of things.
   
   
2. Digital transformation (DT) technologies: This module will provide an Introduction to  digital transformation tools and technologies, construct a big picture of how they fit together to change and disrupt the status quo. The instructor will guide participants to create a portfolio of DT technologies that fit their own small business and develop a scorecard with a number of evaluation criteria to rank and prioritize the options.
   
   
3. Digital Marketing Strategies: This session will focus on how to build a strong organic social media presence for the business, harness email marketing program to grow subscription lists, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), strategic use of video marketing, content strategy, finding additional outlets for print marketing and fostering an online community of brand advocates.
   
   
4. Develop an implementation plan and create a digital transformation roadmap for their respective businesses, prioritizing DT technologies according to cost/benefit estimates and expected returns.

This digital transformation roadmap will ensure the business owners get to apply and synthesize the newly acquired skills with inputs from professional experts and coaches.

Contact: Renu Chauhan, ICCC, iccc@iccconline.org

This is an Employment Ontario project and is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.